The Book of Madain
by Alecky-Nicosai
Summary: A history of the Madain civilization, beginning with the first summoner, and ending with Eiko and Dagger. Also features mole-people conspiracy theory (tm), but that's later on. Please read & review! [chap 2 is done, and up.] [now working on the city]
1. The First Summoner Part 1

DISCLAIMER:  
_I do *not* own Final Fantasy, any locations, characters, concepts, herewith. I do, however own a few of the characters that I invented, as well as a few concepts from the pre-game world that are purely fictional and not verified by anything except my own warped sense of logic. Muahaha.  
Shadow66 and I worked together to compile this view of Gaia's early history. I blame any errors on him temporarily. _  
  
If you do see any problems, inconsistencies, etc., please tell me! I need to know, before I get any further into the story. Thanks.  
  
Please read & review!  
  
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Excerpt from the Book of Madain:  
_"And from the early days of the Madain people, they wandered aimlessly through the wilderness, searching for a place to belong. For many years, they tried to settle down in one place or another, but a feeling of unrest compelled them to always seek a new place to stay.  
Over time, the Madain people developed gifts, ranging from mild healing to direct mind-speech, and then finally, a young Madain male named Angharad discovered the greatest of all the Madain's gifts, the gift of summoning."_  
  
Angharad sincerely wished now that he had never shown any adeptness at mind-speech. Now the elder Madain forced him to sit through hours of lectures, 'educating him about the dangers of having a Gift', 'teaching him how to block off outside emotions', and all the rest of their excuses.  
He wished that he had never tried to alert his sister when she had almost walked onto an antlion's nest while the Madain were travelling across the desert. But then she probably wouldn't be alive. He couldn't have it both ways.  
But he wanted to be outside, playing with the other children his age, not sitting in here, absorbing boring bouts of information from some old woman with silvered hair and an overly large nose.  
"Pay attention, Angharad! If you do not listen, you will likely kill yourself in the near future, and every life is valuable. We cannot afford to lose you youngsters to ignorance!"  
That was the standard warning he got whenever he didn't pay attention, forgot this, didn't do that, blah, blah, blah....  
"Yes, ma'am. I will try to listen harder." he said meekly, disassembling to cover his inner fatigue and boredom.  
"Alright, now where was I..? Ahh.. that's right. I was telling you about the dangers of overstretching yourself. You musn't try to push your Gift, always let it come to you..."  
Now, Angharad thought, she is going to start making up a huge list of parables that are supposed to make me want to follow her every whim as if it were written on sacred tablets, dug up in some obscure location...  
"So, now I would like to attempt to assess the extent of your abilities. If you will come outside.." she stood up, and moved through the half-open tent flap, and onto the grass outside. The Madain were camped on the coast at the moment, having crossed the desert recently. The smell of sea salt lingered in the outside air.  
This was unexpected, he thought. Assessing his abilities, huh? This ought to be fun. Angharad had managed to lift large rocks with his mind, during what little spare time he had. He wondered if he should show this old woman that. No.. then she might put me through endless extra sessions about 'controlling the dangers of his abilities'... but Angharad was driven by the influence of his people, to please his elders.  
"I want you to speak into my mind, Angharad. Then move back to that tree over there, and try again. We need to find how far you can cast a thought from."  
Angharad nodded, and spoke. _I can think to you fine from here._  
_Good. Now move back._  
He moved back to the tree, some ten or twenty metres away, and spoke again. Can you hear me? It was a silly question, though. He had felt her mind receive the thought. His sister had been miles away when he had spoken to her. Why were they testing his range at such small distances if they knew he could speak miles?  
_Yes, perfectly. Your range is good. You will come back tomorrow morning, and we will try some more._  
_Yes, ma'am._  
At last he could leave! Angharad walked quickly away from the old lady's tent, and back to the circle of tents where his brothers and their friends were playing kick-ball. Angharad wasn't bad at kick-ball, and used his Gift for moving things sparingly â€" it was too obvious when the ball suddenly rolled in one direction without anything touching it.  
  
Angharad woke the next morning with a start. The dream he had been having seemed odd. It was as if there were people.. no, they weren't people.. they were more like creatures of some sort.. were trying to tell him something. Something about it being a long time since they last talked. Something like that.  
He shrugged it off. Today was another boring day â€" normal lessons in the morning until lunch, then his 'special lessons' after lunch until the late afternoon, which he had as spare time. There were some other boys his age who had Gifts, but none as strong as his, so he hadn't much company as far as boredom with the lessons were concerned.  
Angharad sighed deeply, and then got out of his sleeping pouch. There was still some time before his first lessons started. Since they were camped on the coast, he decided to go for a swim.  
  
The sea was cool today, Angharad noted as he swum around a few tens of metres away from the shore. And peaceful. The only waves were small ones, breaking right on the shoreline. There was one of the younger children building a model of the Madain camp on the beach, but he was oblivious to all but the sand in front of him.  
Then it happened. He was swimming around a deeper area of water, when a grey shape suddenly lunged out from beneath him. Angharad moved quickly enough that its attack missed, but he was sure it would try a second time. The creature looked like a big fish, with lots and lots of teeth. He began to swim back towards the shore, hoping that once he left the creature's territory, it would leave him alone. That always worked with foxes and black and white birds. You just had to leave their territory, and they left you alone, but this creature seemed not to have any such instinct. It only wanted food.  
The creature came back for a second try, and this time latched on to Angharad's left arm. The pain was intense, and he struggled against the creature's grip. In his panic, he reached out for help inside his mind, and found another waiting, far away in another world.  
In the Eidolon realm, Leviathan felt Angharad touch its mind. It immediately sensed the danger, and what needed to be done. Materializing in the water beneath both Angaharad and the creature, it moved in for the attack.  
Angharad felt the response of the other mind, in the one part of his consciousness that wasn't vibrating in pain and agony. It was coming. Then, in one sudden swoop, Leviathan surged up from under the water, and grabbed the other creature in its mouth. In a single crunch of its great jaws, it crushed the creature and then spat it out back into the ocean. Leviathan then picked Angharad up delicately in its mouth, and carried him back to the shore. His cry for help had also reached the elders, and they came out of the trees just as this happened. When they saw that Angharad's left arm was gnarled, with sharp tooth marks running its length, they immediately sent back for women in the camp with either healing Gifts, or knowledge of herbs and remedies.  
Slowly recovering from shock, Angharad let go of Leviathan's mind. It immediately swam back out to sea and disappeared. Then, he promptly lost consciousness.  
  
Angharad woke to find himself lying on top of a pile of sleeping pouches. His arm ached dully, but he could still feel it, so it wasn't gone. Then he remembered everything that had happened.  
"So, you're awake, are you?" said a female voice.  
"Yes.. my arm hurts.."  
"So it should. You are lucky to still have it. The creature you encountered was a seafeeder. The Madain have run across them before. I'm surprised you hadn't been warned about them, since you were camped on the coast."  
"The Madain..? You mean, you're not.."  
"No, I'm not part of your clan." the woman laughed gently. "But I am watching you. You summoned one of us to help you when you were attacked. That was a Gift that none of your race had developed yet. Now I must go.."  
"Wait.. what is your name?" he asked quickly.  
Shiva. The word echoed in his mind.   
"So, Angharad, you've woken up finally, hmm?"  
This voice he recognized as that of one of the elders. He suspected that Shiva had been mind-talking to him, so Elder Taury wouldn't have heard anything.  
"Yes.. what bit me?" Angharad asked, wanting to verify Shiva's story.  
"It was a seafeeder. We've known about them for a while, but we didn't think they lived this far east."  
So it was true, then.  
"Now, Angharad, we're just going to put you back to sleep for a while, to help that arm heal. But you'll have to try and eat something first.."  
As if what he said had been a cue, his mother came through the tent flap, holding a clay plate with some fruit and bread on it.  
"Just eat this, and then we'll put you back to sleep." Elder Taury said.  
After he finished eating, and talking a bit with his mother, Taury nodded to her, and she locked her son under a mind influence she hadn't used on him since he was a babe.  
"I'm surprised that worked. I haven't used that trick in years." Daria said to Elder Taury quietly as they left.  
"Ahh.. once a mind skill is learnt, it is very hard to forget." was Taury's reply, as he changed directions to go back to his tent.  
"Good evening, Elder." Daria said by way of farewell as she did the same.  
  
Back in his tent, Taury thought more about the incident. That boy had definitely summoned some kind of creature to help him from being eaten by that seafeeder. He had not asked Angharad outright, because he was sure that the boy would not answer the question with the information that Taury wanted so badly. To create or summon creatures like that was something his ancestors had dreamed about when they first discovered Gifts among themselves. To fulfill it would bring great honour to him and his family. "Elder Taury of the Madain, the man who discovered summoning." Yes, that was a title he liked.  
  
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Alecky-Nicosai: Ooo.. there's gonna be a bad guy!  
  
Taury: Ssh! Don't tell the damn kid that. Otherwise I'll never be able to adopt that threatening posture that I'm working on! All the other bad guys have it except me!  
  
Angharad (waking up): Whaa...  
  
A-N and Taury together: Nothing! Go back to sleep.  
  



	2. The First Summoner Part 2

DISCLAIMER:  
_I do *not* own Final Fantasy, any locations, characters, concepts, herewith. I do, however own a few of the characters that I invented, as well as a few concepts from the pre-game world that are purely fictional and not verified by anything except my own warped sense of logic. Muahaha._  
  
I understand that I've taken a bit of license as far as a quick recovery from shark-bite is concerned.. but Angharad is a Madain, after all, and he was being tended by white mages. ;)  
  
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The sleeping compulsion placed on him had caused Angharad to sleep for quite some time. Two days, in fact. His arm was looking quite a bit better now, although the scaring could easily last his lifetime. When he woke again, Taury was there, and gave him some more food to eat, and some mild fruit juice to drink.  
"You can most likely be out of this tent fairly soon, you know. And you probably won't be needing those special lessons any more, not with the display you pulled off down at the beach."  
Elder Taury was not above careful bribery and deception to achieve his aims.  
"Really, sir?" Angharad, showing careful relief. The Elder might not be too pleased to learn just how boring the 'special lessons' really were.  
The old man nodded, slightly distracted by whatever thoughts crossed his mind.  
"Well, your mother should be coming to see you sometime today. We won't put you back to sleep again now, so if you can think of something you can do to relieve boredom, that doesn't put any stress on that arm, then we would be glad to provide anything you need." he said in a brisk tone, rising to leave.  
"Thank you, sir." Angharad replied, already considering and dismissing various ways to spend time. What he really wanted to do was find out more about those creatures that Leviathan and Shiva were two of. But to do that, he would like to be away from the camp, so that nobody else knew.  
The Elder ducked out of the tent, and then looked back in a moment later.  
"Oh, and your normal lessons will still continue." he said, with a slight grin, before he left.  
Angharad didn't mind that. The normal lessons were alright. It had been those 'special' ones that left him groaning in agony. The next person to enter was his mother, who sat down and looked over his arm, gave him a quick hug, and left. A few minutes later, his tutor came in.  
"Now, I understand that we can't really go outside to do anything today." he said with a quick glance at the bite marks on Angharad's upper arm, "But we can discuss the many different known sea creatures. The other children are getting the same lesson, so don't worry that we're doing anything especially for you."  
And so he spent the next few days as the bite healed.  
  
A week or so later, Elder Taury came to see Angharad, now living back in his tent, beside that of his parents and siblings, while he ate breakfast.  
"Good morning, Elder." he said through a mouthful of cooked oats. These were something special, as the Madain while the traveled, did not often find such things growing wild. The area they were camped in now seemed to have lots of them, so many of the men and women turned out to help harvest and store it up for when food was not so abundant.   
"Good morning, Angharad. I thought I would come this morning to ask about the creature that helped you escape from the seafeeder when you were attacked."  
Angharad almost choked. He thought that if the Elders had noticed the creature he had called, then they would have asked sooner. He thought that he might talk about Leviathan, but not Shiva's visit.  
"I was wondering if you knew something about where it came from."  
Angharad thought for a moment, before carefully producing the answer, "I think that when I yelled out for help, it heard me. How it got here.. I don't know."  
Taury nodded, mulling this over. "Is there anything else about it that you know?"  
Angharad hmmed for a moment, then said, "Yes.. I think its name is Leviathan, and it lives somewhere with a lot of other creatures like it."  
"Interesting. Do you think that it would come if you asked it now?"  
"It might.. I'm not sure."  
"Would you come down to the sea with me, so you can try?"  
"Yes, I suppose so.."  
"Then whenever you're ready." Taury said, and then walked outside the tent. Angharad quickly finished off the remainder of his breakfast, and followed the Elder. They up the slight hill before the sand dunes, and then down towards the beach. When they reached the water's edge, the Elder stopped and looked at Angharad expectantly.  
Taking a deep breath, Angharad stretched out his mind. It was harder to do this consciously, he noted, as he searched for Leviathan's mind somewhere in the distance. Finally, he felt his link connect, but Leviathan refused to come. He was not needed, there was no reason for him to be there.  
"He won't come, sir." Angharad said to the Elder. "He says that we have no need of his abilities."  
"Can I try and merge with you, to see where he is?"  
"Merge?"  
"Oh.. sorry, you weren't taught how to merge minds, were you?"  
"No, I don't believe I was.." replied Angharad, feeling slightly puzzled.  
"Hmm.. I want you to relax, alright? Just relax everything."  
Angharad did so, and felt the Elder's mind reach out and absorb his.  
_Alright. Now, show me where Leviathan is._  
Angharad reached out again, and felt Leviathan's touch. This time, Leviathan thought words, and not just feelings.  
_You are merged. Why do you wish to see proof that I am?_ The question was directed at Elder Taury.  
_Because you are unknown to us. We only want to see where you come from._  
Angharad felt the Elder's mind gain strength, and send a probe at Leviathan, trying to see through its eyes.  
Do not do that. It makes me uncomfortable. Leviathan said, in a bored tone. Elder Taury's merge dissolved as a quick shaft of energy from Leviathan seemed to singe the edges of his mind.  
Taury was lying on the sand, and his head hurt. It hurt with the pain of a thousand headaches, threatening to burst through his skull. It hurt as if a fire burned inside his skull. Then, just as quickly as it started, it disappeared.  
However, in the brief moment that he had touched Leviathan's mind, he had gained much knowledge of its world. It lived in a completely different realm that ran alongside their one, where it lived with many other creatures of its kind, in peace and harmony. They were all so powerful! If the Madain were ever attacked by such as they, then there could be no possibility of survival.  
"Elder, are you alright?" Angharad's voice broke through the Elder's thoughts.  
"Yes, yes, I'm fine."  
"But he attacked you!" the boy said, in an odd tone of voice.  
"Not very well, Angharad. If he wanted to kill me, he could have, but he didn't."  
After the merge had been broken, Leviathan had bluntly informed Angharad that Elder Taury did not have the best intentions for the Madain people as a whole at heart, as much as for himself. Angharad's conditioning, having being brought up in the Madain culture, prevented him from entirely accepting such a proposal, but it did not prevent him from analyzing it, and seeing that what Elder Taury had done had not seemed like the right thing to do at the time.  
They walked back up to the camp, and on the way, the Elder made him swear a vow of secrecy, to not tell anyone else about what had happened that morning. Angharad did so, and then went back into his tent, to get ready for his lessons.  
Over the next few weeks, Angharad could not help thinking about why Elder Taury had not wanted anybody to know about the early morning conversation with Leviathan. And why he had tried to see through the creature's eyes, when it was obvious that Leviathan would never let him do so.  
Then, one day, Shiva came to see him while he was off hunting rabbits, for the family table. She appeared in front of him, sitting down on the ground in a clearing. It was getting dark, and she had started a small fire in the center of the clearing, but Shiva seemed to stay as far away from it as possible.  
"Hello again, Angharad." she said softly when he walked into the clearing.  
"Ahh.. hello, Shiva." he said, a bit tentatively.  
"Leviathan tells me that one of your people tried to redirect his eyes a little while ago. How did that happen?" Shiva already knew the details, of course, but Angharad was used to interacting with people, who couldn't read minds as easily as Eidolons. She had studied Madain culture, and knew that 'showing off', especially among the young ones, was looked down upon.  
"Well... Elder Taury wanted to know if Leviathan would come to me, when I wasn't in trouble. So we went down to the beach, to try it out, and Leviathan said he wasn't needed, so wouldn't come.. then Taury said we should link, so he could see where Leviathan came from.." Shiva made no reaction whatsoever to what Angharad was saying, and it unnerved him slightly, "And then when he tried to steal Leviathan's eyes, he broke the link, and I could feel lots of pain in his mind."  
Shiva nodded. "Yes, Leviathan _burned_ him for a second or two." she said offhandedly, as if it was a common practice. "He's grumpy at the best of times, but generally has a fairly dismissive attitude toward humans. Your merge was not very good, Leviathan said. Would I be right in assuming that you haven't had much experience merging in the past?"  
"No, not really.."  
"Would you like to learn how to do it properly?"  
"Y-yes.."  
"Alright then. I'll show you." Shiva said, then proceeded to teach him the dos and don'ts of mind-merges. When Angharad left the clearing a few hours later, he began to wonder why Shiva had done that. Was she getting him ready for something; preparing him?  
  
The next few days were spent packing up; the Madain were on the move again, this time back toward the east, along the north coast; and so Angharad had no spare time in which to mull over the puzzle.   
When the Madain next stopped, on the coast again, but this time to the east, Angharad met with Shiva again, and she taught him various mind tricks that even the Elders did not know. However, the most interesting piece of information that Shiva imparted upon her young apprentice was that he and his people had been chosen from all the races of the world, to represent the Eidolons in the human world. When he had called Leviathan that day, the Eidolons had together reached a decision. The Madain would forever be the race of summoners.  
  
And so begins the transformation of the Madain race from a group of wandering nomads, to a thriving, and powerful civilization.  
  
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